Today’s Reading: Mosiah 10:13-11:15
1 [King Noah] did not walk in the ways of his father… For behold, he did not keep the commandments of God, but he did walk after the desires of his own heart.
It all started innocently enough. When a popular gym opened near my home, my early morning routine began to include a jaunt over to the cardio machines. However, they all seemed strategically placed directly in view of a pantheon of disturbing images of counterfeit love, counterfeit happiness, and counterfeit peace. As if king Noah were determining the programming. I had a desire to start my day with something a little more uplifting so, in an effort to find a safe haven, I routinely began to park myself in front of television number 4–HGTV.
Little by little, day by day, I began to see my own transformation. I became stronger and my stamina improved, yet I felt more and more dissatisfied with…everything! I had developed a very real problem and I began to realize it was ruining me. Instead of returning from my workouts feeling refreshed and invigorated, I came home with a distinct feeling of dissatisfaction with my home. My desires had changed. I couldn’t stop day dreaming about knocking down those walls that were interfering with the “open” feeling. Clearly my kitchen needed an “update” and my master bedroom was not the oasis it was supposed to be!
I didn’t like what was happening to me, at all. My brothers and I came from a humble and loving two bedroom–one bath home filled with faith, not new carpet. Unknowingly, king Noah’s counterfeits were playing on my channel too and changing my desires! Little by little, day by day, king Noah had changed the desires of his people by replacing his righteous father’s leadership with Satan’s counterfeits. Instead of a people willing to fight for their wives and children “in the strength of the Lord,” [i] he created a culture of multiple wives and concubines to feed sexual addiction [ii]. Instead of industriously planting nutritious crops [iii], he emphasized planting vineyards to feed alcohol addiction [iv]. Instead of living within their means and focusing on practical buildings, repairing the walls of the city and building a beautiful temple to emphasize temple covenants [v, vi], he enforced a heavy tax to build and ornament “many elegant and spacious” towers and buildings [vii].
I couldn’t believe how quickly I had become sucked into king Noah’s whirlpool of counterfeit happiness on my HGTV! I didn’t want to become like him. King Noah “did not walk in the ways of his father…but he did walk after the desires of his own heart” [viii] and I had begun following the desires of my own heart by obsessing over material things at the expense of the purpose for them. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf warned that “Satan’s purpose is to tempt us to exchange the priceless pearls of true happiness and eternal values for a fake plastic trinket that is merely an illusion and counterfeit of happiness and joy” [ix]. I knew I had started to desire “trinkets” over “pearls”.
It is not that I needed to change the channel though, just change how I watched that channel. I wanted to feel inspired to make my home a clean and orderly place. I wanted to learn how to use our space more efficiently and make simple yet impactful adjustments to it. But more importantly I wanted a home where the spirit flowed abundantly while serving my Heavenly Father’s purposes to provide a hallowed place of learning, laughter, forgiveness, and love for my family. The moment I began to lose my desire for that “priceless pearl,” and feel tempted to use money and time unwisely to “ornament” [x] my home, I was headed for the counterfeit…a “fake plastic trinket.”
I began to see some showcase homes appear like “fake plastic trinkets” with miserable families and mediocre marriages suffering within. I also began to see some simple homes shimmer like a “priceless pearl” because the pearl of the gospel was lived, loved, and taught within. Little by little, day by day, I realized I did not want the desires of MY heart anymore, I just wanted what my Heavenly Father desired for me and my family.
It has taken several years of planning, financial preparation, and HGTV watching to finally begin refreshing my home this summer. I may not be knocking down those walls that are interfering with the “open” feeling but we are working on having an “open” relationship with our teenagers. Clearly my kitchen needs an “update” but painted cupboards and a new counter-top will have to serve as the backdrop to our lively family dinners where eight people “update” each other on their lives. My master bedroom might not become the five-star “oasis” the world tells me I deserve, but a devoted and loving marriage begins and ends the day in that room. And there is nothing counterfeit about the “oasis” I feel in the arms of the man I love! Those are home improvements that take more than a 3-day makeover, they reflect “desire improvements” that only happen little by little, day by day.
I was born and raised in Alberta, Canada and California and promised every childhood friend I would never raise my family in Utah…until I fell in love with the most amazing fourth generation Orem boy. Now we are raising our kids in the house he grew up in and we love it. I am an estate planning attorney and marriage educator but I really want to be better at those half-baked talents like speaking Spanish, playing the piano, and making dinner every night! Read more about me at mormon.org
So powerful! It is so easy for anyone to dangle a toe in Babylon’s waters.